


Humanity's Fate Lies on A Sub-Mercenary Named Freeman

by SoraShiro001



Category: Half-Life
Genre: Barney as a mercenary, But go directly to 7-Hours war, Gordon and his Crowbar, Gordon as a scientist and sub-mercs, Half-Life AU, M/M, No Resonance Cascade, Security Company Black Mesa, Selective Mute Gordon, Xen still exist, will add more characters as the story progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:34:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26603053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoraShiro001/pseuds/SoraShiro001
Summary: Dr Gordon Freeman, one of Black Mesa’s weapon scientists and a sub-mercenary, got an unusual mission from The Administrator. Despite being a mission, the only info he’d got from them was more than just an ordinary attack.“Something has landed in New Mexico’s nearest US Military Base and whatever that is, it’s alive and it’s coming to us.”Nobody told him that they’re already invading the facility as soon as he walked out of the office.With him, his personally-assigned HEV suit, and a crowbar, his current mission is no longer to handle the threat.Now it’s time to survive this foreign attack in one piece and extract any survivors.
Relationships: Barney Calhoun/Gordon Freeman
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	1. The Start of The Seven Hours War (Pt.1)

**Author's Note:**

> Writing fic with pairing is out of my comfort zone, but I wanted to try something new.
> 
> From my Tumblr @rethsprings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gordon Freeman's interaction inside Black Mesa, a few hours before he arrived at The Administrator’s office.

His name is Gordon Freeman, an ordinary scientist in Black Mesa. Many of his colleagues called him Dr Freeman. He graduated from MIT with a PhD in Theoretical Physics and then signed a work contract with the company due to Black Mesa’s reputation of being one of the best research facility with the help of government’s funds. He got accepted into there as one of the scientists and an unexpected role.

That role is him being a substitute mercenary.

Black Mesa isn’t just an ordinary research facility.

Black Mesa is, in fact, a security company specialized in various experimental weaponry and massive scale of firearms productions.

He internally cursed himself one more time as he walked through the hallway, his metal HEV suit strapped onto his body securely and making a subtle _clang_ every time his foot touches the ground. It’s been a few years since he worked here, both as a scientist in Anomalous Weaponry Department and as a mercenary in the field. Yes, he got lessons for firearms usage and some bonus lesson in street-style kickboxing, but his job is mostly guarding some sensitive information or taking care of weapon deliveries. He never complained about them, his main job is in the lab after all.

As he entered his department’s lab, he got greeted by a pair of familiar calloused hands wrapped around his eyes, obstructing his sight. “G’day, Gordon!” The mystery man said with a hint of happiness in his southern accented voice, maybe he’s in a good mood today. “Dr Kleiner told me you’re going to see Dr Vance in the lab, so I went around to search for ya.”

[B. A. R. N. E. Y.] He fingerspelled the mystery man’s name, making the hands retracted from his face, green pupils met with the man’s gentle brown ones. [Don’t surprise me like that. Last time you did this, I almost break your jaw.] Barney could only laugh out loud, patting his HEV’s shoulder part.

Barney, full name is Barnaby Calhoun, is one of Gordon’s closest friends here in Black Mesa. Unlike Gordon’s position as a sub-mercenary, his is a full-fledge mercenary. Most of his mission includes retrieving important objects and files, eliminating any kinds of targeted dangers (subduing or killing), and bodyguarding with fully armed firearms. Despite his jobs’ harsh nature, he still keeps his carefree and friendly attitude around his colleagues, including Gordon himself. He met Barney during one of his firearms training then they met each other every day since. Barney’s vast firearms expertise never cease to amaze him, from Glock to double-barrel shotgun, he tamed their recoils as if he’s a cowboy taming wild horses in the desert heat-

_Wait, fuck, stop getting ahead of yourself, Gordon!_ His inner self screaming in panic and effectively stopping him in his track, slightly dazed. _He’s only your co-worker- but his voice is making my heart having Tachycardia-_

“Gordon, ya good, buddy?” Barney asked, once again staring at him with a worried look at his adorable face. O _h God, he wanted to pinch that cheeks of his-_ He nodded quickly before walking further into his department building, hiding his flustered face from the southern man.

“Hey, Gordon, over here!”

Gordon’s head instantly whipped to the source of the voice and saw Dr Vance waved his hand from his work table, some kinds of a tractor beam-type machine sat on top of his table with tools messily scattered on the top. The black older man grinned as he approaches. “Look at this! We managed to harvest the power of one of the Xen crystals we’ve found with this sweetheart. I named it; Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator.” He grabbed the machine by the handle, pointed it at a large wooden crate beside his desk, and pressed the trigger. Much to his surprise, it started to lift itself from the ground, making Dr Vance’s grin wider. “It’s useful for heavy lifting any kinds of large objects safely, no matter the materials of the items. Pretty nice, right?”

[Sir, be careful-] Before Gordon finished his sentence, the crate suddenly launched itself at an incredibly high speed onto the wall and effectively shattered into small pieces. Both doctors stood in awkward silence before Dr Vance broke into a laughing fit. [Sir? Are you okay?! Did you hit your head?] Gordon’s panic signing only making him cackling even louder.

“Oh my- I almost forgot its- * _huff*_ second usage…” He wiped his tears from his heterochromia eyes. “This motherfucker can turn any kinds of physics-based objects into single-fire ammunition, making it one hell of a multipurpose machine.”

[Sir, please, I have to meet The Administrator later after this HEV suit inspection.] The older man raised one of his eyebrows.

“You got called by Breen?” Gordon nodded as Dr Vance started to tinker some of the inner mechanism inside his chest plate. “What happened? Did you made another mistake on your reports again?”

[I got another mission, but he’ll be the one who gives me the details instead.]

“Weird…” Gordon could see the older man’s facial expression soured upon knowing it. “It’s hard to believe Breen doing that. Hell, he rarely makes any good connection with his employees.” He tapped his HEV arm part. “Okay, turn around.” He obligated and slowly rotate his body, letting Dr Vance examine the back mechanism. “What the hell is he planning to you? I swear if something terrible happened at you, that asshole would be on the top of my suspect list.”

Gordon chuckled lightly. [Don’t worry, sir. I’ll bring my crowbar in case there’s an attack inside the office.]

“Yeah, you better be.” He gave the HEV suit’s back compartment a final tap. “The check-up is done. The morphine injector part got malfunctioned, so I replaced it with the new one and refilled it with another batch of it.” Gordon turned around to face the older man, only for him to see his personal long bright red crowbar instead. He took it from Dr Vance’s hand with a small nod as a thank you and latched it onto his back’s magnetic compartment. Not all HEV suit has that, but Gordon requested Dr Kleiner specifically to add it so he could carry his signature red crowbar without any hassle.

[Thank you for your help, doctor.] And with that, Gordon sets his path to The Administrator’s office.


	2. The Start of The Seven Hours War (Pt.2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gordon’s mission briefing with Dr Breen and Barney finished his training session at the shooting range.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I... should I make- *gestures towards this story* -y'know... why you guys like this? I'll drop the worldbuilding later tho, still in progress.

"Dr Freeman, you're thirty minutes late."

Gordon nodded as he entered the massive room, facing towards The Administrator's desk. There's something off in the air that he couldn't describe. Across him, Dr Breen calmly sat on his chair, chin resting on his hands. "I might write your incompetence inside your paycheck report, but I'll excuse this for once."

The mute man pulled out his HEV's breastplate cover, revealing an electronic tablet. He silently scoffed upon turning on the tablet. If it's not for Dr Kleiner's request, he won't use this stupid thing. Also doubles as his HEV's breastplate cover, he thought the design is neat until he found _that_ function. Now every time he uses this, it's for either someone that genuinely doesn't know ASL or for someone he hates. He quickly typed in words and took a deep breath.

_Alright, here goes nothing.._. He pressed the voice-over button.

_"WHAT. DO. YOU. WANT. SIR."_

Gordon's inner soul screeched out loud into the heaven when he heard that dreaded damned mechanical voice-over read the sentence. Why the hell Dr Kleiner put that there?! He despised whoever thought it was a good idea to put abomination inside the tablet. Yes, He could use the included tablet pen for this, but he dislikes Dr Breen so much, he feels like the big boss of his doesn't deserve the function. Thank God The Administrator didn't manage to catch his intention.

Dr Breen's sitting position shifting a bit. "We have a time-sensitive danger coming at us." Gordon gave him a questioning look. "I don't have much information about this, but I could give you brief information about this problem." Somehow, the scientist got a bad feeling that he couldn't shake off.

“Something has landed in New Mexico’s nearest US Military Base, and whatever that is, it’s alive and coming to us.”

Gordon's blood immediately ran cold upon hearing that sentence. He put the electronic tablet back and gave The Administrator another questioning look. "We only got bits and pieces about the danger from there before we lost their contact. To put it simply," Dr Breen looked at him with a questionable smile, his hand pulled out a thick folder from inside his desk, "something extraterrestrial has landed near one of the most secure places in New Mexico, and nobody came out alive." He pushed it, encouraging Gordon to take it, which he obligate. "Well, none that I know of. If someone still alive in that base, they would've already been contacting us a few days ago."

The folder looks intimidating to him, with bold letters **CLASSIFIED INFORMATION** on the front and accompanied by US Government and FBI stamps and signs. Gordon looked back at Dr Breen once again, now with curiosity looming towards his superior. _Why the hell are you showing me this?_ He thought, green eyes sharply gaze at the man in front of him.

"You might be wondering why I showed you this highly classified folder." The Administrator smirked, sending chills to his spine. "Your main mission is..."

"...to protect this folder at all costs from any agents and outsiders."

* * *

"Good job on the practice, everybody! Break time for an hour!"

Barney immediately disarmed his R4-C from its ammunition and clicked on the safety before slinging it onto his shoulder. His foggy orange-tinted safety goggles got pulled down to his neck, revealing more sweat on his face. He wiped the liquid out with his gloved hand and left the shooting ground without even bothered to put away his military gear.

"Ah, Calhoun, the perfect man I need!" The southern merc grumbled upon hearing the voice before facing them. An overweight-looking man walked towards him, stupidly waving his still-loaded Glock. "Did you hear about-" Barney immediately backed down from him and distancing himself as far as possible.

"Otis, I reckon ya remember the golden rules of gun safety?" The mercs loudly said, gesturing over the in-questioned man. "Treat all guns as if they're loaded. Please just put that down before-"

_BANG!!!_

Barney froze as a stray bullet flew towards him and barely missed him. He could feel a small sting of both heat and pain on his left cheek. His thumb touched the source of pain and saw a smear of blood on it. It took him a moment to realize Otis' Glock was already on the ground and slightly smoking.

He also noticed that he is trembling out of pure anger as he glared at the man who started this. "I FUCKING TOLD YOU SECONDS AGO, WE HAVE WRITTEN RULES INSIDE THE SHOOTING RANGE, AND YOU JUST- FUCKING IGNORED IT. LIKE SOME KIND OF IDIOT."

"I- it was an accident, I swear- "

"It won't be an accident if YOU JUST FOLLOW THIS RANGE'S GUN SAFETY RULES YOU FUCKER!!!"

If people were talking in the range before, the accidental shooting must have silenced them. All eyes are now focusing on both men on their edges. After a while, Barney decided that the older merc isn't worth his time fighting and left without a word. He's a rational adult, after all. But the thought of the bullet _barely missed_ him instead of hitting him _point-blank_ almost drive him mad. He could've gotten killed there in the spot nor walking out from the practice range. He won't be able to see his family and co-workers again. He won't be able to go to the bar with his fellow teammates after a successful mission...

He won't be able to over Gordon's lab work and hearing his gentle laugh again, _his_ Gordon Freeman.

Before he fully indulged into his sadness, his ears picked up a sound of multiple muffled screams that made his instinct took over his brain instead. He noticed that others also hearing it, judging by some of his fellow mercs hurriedly setting up their gears and ran out. Not long after that, an emergency alarm echoed around inside the building, making him grab his backpack and also ran alongside his squadmates.

A crackle over the building intercom caught his attention.

_"Warning to all personnel. Due to an unexpected attack on the facility, we recommend all scientists to use any weapons near you and regroup with Black Mesa mercenaries if possible. The cause of the attack is unknown, all personnel are advised to use firearms and eliminate any threat if seen."_

The mechanical, almost-robotic voice kept repeating the same message five times before dissolving into static. One of his eyebrows raised, a bit confused about the announcement as he put back his safety goggles. _Eliminate any threat if seen? Are they using different uniforms or- oh._

As soon as he turned around the corner, he felt like he transported to somewhere in one of those sci-fi apocalypse genre novels.

Scientists are screaming their head off as unknown four-legged spider creatures jumping around and attacking them. One of that thing managed to latch itself onto one of the scientists' head and began to do things that Barney himself wouldn't even describe it because of how NSFW-looking that thing did. The scientist resisted at first, then the body slowly stopped any attempt to attack and then it seems they got controlled by the crab thing and now attacking the others.

The southern merc grabbed his R4-C, not forgetting to switch the safety off and put on the ammunition magazine.

"Darn, fucking head humpers."

This is just the beginning of the chaos.


End file.
